Thompson Boxing Stays Busy

It’s not fair - or particularly accurate - to say that Thompson Boxing is just a club show promoter. Yes, they do have a regular schedule of fight cards at that level but they are also that rare company that not only promotes at the grass roots level but also makes a mark on bigger platforms. This weekend is just another example of such variety.

Alex Camponovo, matchmaker and director of boxing operations for Thompson, told Maxboxing, “On Friday, we have our regular show back in Ontario [California]; it’s [called] ‘New Blood.’ We have seven bouts at the Doubletree Hotel; Jonathan Arrellano is going to be the main event. Then we have a bunch of other prospects that are going to showcase themselves. We have Ramon Valadez, Artemio Reyes- he’s coming back from a knockout loss in Las Vegas- in an all-action fight between Takashi Okada. As far as I’m concerned, everyone on the card has winning records, so it should be another competitive night of boxing.”

Then on Saturday night, they have a vested interest on two televised cards.

“We want to make sure ‘Canelo’ (Saul Alvarez) doesn’t fight Victor Ortiz on September the 15th. We have Josesito Lopez, the first fight we ever signed when we started doing this a few years ago. So yeah, we are definitely pushing for Josesito to get that victory at the Staples Center,” said Camponovo of the fight headlining the Showtime broadcast. Then there is the card across town at the Sportsmans Lodge in Studio City, broadcast on Telefutura as part of its “Solo Boxeo” series. “We have Efrain Esquivias defending his NABF title versus Rico Ramos. That’s a very tough fight; they know each other very well. They fought three times in the amateurs; Rico won twice- I guess once, controversially- but hey, fighters always say that but I believe my guy and they know each other very well. They sparred together a bunch of times. Efrain is a kid that is doing very, very well under his management and Rico, obviously, is trying to get back in the limelight. That should be a heckuva fight on Telefutura this Saturday night.”

Another Thompson Boxing charge, Mauricio Herrera, was scheduled to face Brandon Rios on HBO on July 7th at the Home Depot Center in Carson before “Bam Bam” pulled out with an elbow injury last week. Now Herrera, who gamely went 10 frames with Mike Alvarado back in April, is in limbo. “HBO was really happy with his last performance; I’m hoping to reschedule him for later this year and see what dates are available,” said Camponovo. “We have other opportunities that didn’t pan out before; we might have a little bit of a pull with Mauricio now. He’s a hard-working guy and is an honest fighter; he always puts on an honest performance. So it might take us another two months; we’re in no rush. He was extremely disappointed because he was training very, very hard for this fight. I thought he had a shot against Rios. It would’ve been a really good, all-action fight. Mauricio’s not a power-puncher but he hangs in there all the time. So he makes everybody work hard for their money.”

On August 10th, Thompson Boxing will be under the bright lights of ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” from the Morongo Casino with a classic crossroads bout between Darley Perez and Michael Katsidis.

“Gary Shaw and ourselves, we put that fight together; we’re co-promoters with Darley and it’s a done deal. Darley’s currently training in Los Angeles getting ready for the big fight. It’s a great fight for him; it’s a great fight for Katsidis. It should be a nice little battle.”

BITTERSWEET

Thompson Boxing played a huge role in the development of Timothy Bradley, as they were his original promoter and Camponovo was entrusted in moving his career along as a young, unknown prospect from Cathedral City. But after Bradley’s bout versus Devon Alexander in January of 2011, he acrimoniously split from Thompson Boxing and Gary Shaw (who came into the picture around the time Bradley moved up to the eight and 10-round level and started appearing on “ShoBox”) and landed under the Top Rank umbrella. He eventually landed a bout with Manny Pacquiao.

So was it a bittersweet moment for Camponovo, seeing the “Desert Storm” reach that level?

“Honestly, I wish him luck. We had 27 fights together; we built him up, got him out of wherever he was to turn him pro and to a world title, two world titles, made a name, made the world aware that this kid existed,” he stated. “But I didn’t watch the [Pacquiao] fight and I don’t think I will. I don’t want to see it; I’m not interested in it anymore. I watched the last two rounds so I really don’t know who won or lost. I’m just going by what everybody has been saying. But we’re pretty much done with Bradley; we had a great run for a long while. The circumstances in which he left us were not the best but this is part of the sport.”

Tickets for "NEW BLOOD" are priced at $75, $45, and $30. Purchase tickets by calling 714-935-0900. Doors open at 6:30 pm First bell rings at 7:30 pm.

The Doubletree Hotel is located at222 North Vineyard Avenue in Ontario, California

I’ve said before that Thompson Boxing runs the best club program in America, in which champions like Bradley and Yonnhy Perez played significant parts in addition to solid pros like Herrera. Also, at less than $4, their nachos are an absolute steal.

EXTREME

Again, Showtime Extreme will air some of the undercard fights before the featured bouts on Showtime. This time around, they have a junior middleweight tilt between Jermell Charlo and Denis Douglin in what has a “Loser leaves town” (or at least a “Prospect moves forward”) feel to it. And Omar Figueroa, who’s becoming one of the sport’s crowd-pleasing performers, faces Alain Hernandez in an eight-round lightweight contest.

In my opinion, these are exactly the types of bouts this platform was made for.

SUMMER SOLO BOXEO

Speaking of the summer schedule, here’s some of the upcoming cards on Telefutura:

6/30

Mike Perez vs. Eric Cruz

Jeffrey Fontanez vs. Pedro Hernandez

7/14

Marco Antonio Periban vs. James Parison

Antonio Capulin vs. TBA

7/28

Ronny Rios vs. TBA

Julio Diaz vs. TBA

Andrew Cancio vs. TBA

8/11

Brian Vera vs. Sergio Mora

Antonio Escalante vs. TBA

FRIDAY FLURRIES

So why did Jessie Vargas leave Mayweather Promotions for Top Rank? I’m guessing he got sick of getting paid in betting slips he had to cash in...A bout between Shawn Porter and Alfonso Gomez is being seriously discussed to lead off the July 28th card on Showtime from San Jose featuring Robert Guerrero vs. Selcuk Aydin...Camponovo mentioned that J.C. Burgos will appear on ESPN2 on July 20th... According to Gordon Hall, the July 13th edition of“ShoBox”featuring Demetrius Andrade has been canceled due to Andrade suffering an injury...But the following week, “ShoBox” will have Art Hovhannisyan against Miguel Acosta and Julian Williams facing the always-ready-to-go Thomas Brad Anderson (TBA)...Is college football really going to have a playoff system in place before Pacquiao-Mayweather is negotiated? That’s mind-blowing to me...LeRoy Neiman, R.I.P....I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.